


Kainora Collection

by dreamoverdrive



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - High School, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-26
Updated: 2015-04-26
Packaged: 2018-03-25 20:15:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3823321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamoverdrive/pseuds/dreamoverdrive
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Collection of Kainora one-shots varying from high school, college, to canon settings.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Cafe

**Author's Note:**

> I'll be starting off with the most popular and over-done AU of all time— the cafe meeting. This was the Connection prompt I wrote for Kainora week last year.

Jinora was certainly not scheduling her mornings _just_ so that she could see this guy.

No. Not at all.

She did not make sure that she was in the Starbucks at 6:45 am sharp five days out of the week because it when he went to get his vanilla bean whatever. That would have been strange, invasive, and unhealthy overall. She went to the Starbucks because she was a morning person. Never mind that it cut in to her early morning yoga sessions. Never mind that she was perfectly capable of making better tea than this Starbucks would ever be. She did it because she _felt_ like it.

That was not the only thing she had felt of late. Whenever that door jingled open, she _knew_ it was him. She could feel his very aura. It was warm, light, and clever. It was comforting just being in the same room as this guy. One morning, when she had been sitting close to the register, she had heard him say his name for the cashier to scrawl on the cup. _Kai._ She’d had to restrain herself from turning around to make introductions right then and there.

She didn’t have an exact idea of what he looked like. She was too shy to steal more than second long glances. She didn’t come to look at him; she just came to feel him there. She tried to piece together the glimpses of his features that she had caught. He had high cheekbones and a sharp jaw line that gave his face a mischievous cut. She had caught a glimpse of his hands when he reached for a drink. They were the kind of hands you saw on artists or engineers. Quick and nimble she thought. Although, how much did she really know from that quick moment she got a look at them?

She was content just to sit at her little table in the mornings, doing homework or reading. She didn’t need to talk to him to enjoy being there.

So when he spoke to her, it was nearly enough to send her flying out of her chair.

She’s sensed him walk in and get order drink as usual, but rather than wait by the counter, he began to move towards her and her table. The rational part of her mind was certain that there must be some other reason for his change in direction. Maybe he was going to look at the mug rack that she thought blocked her from view? Fluttering panic rose from her stomach into her throat when he passed every rack or shelve that he could possibly have been heading towards and _ohgoodness_ he sat in the chair across from her.

It had the equivalent effect of someone filling her with air because she nearly thought that she was going to float out through the ceiling.

She didn’t dare look up over her book at him. Maybe he was just there to be there? Alright, that sounded ridiculous even in her head but what other plausible reason—

“Hello.”

His voice was bright and engaging and she felt her eyes slowly drift up almost against her will.

His eyes were green and grey and her literature-oriented mind immediately began to conjure similes. Green like forests with the grey light before dusk. Green like pockets of nature lit with pale sunlight hidden around the city.

“Hi,” she finally choked. She took a quick sip of her tea, to have something to do with her mouth and to prevent herself from saying something that would have been undeniably embarrassing.

“My name is Kai.” He said it with a wry smile and she had to hold back an— _I know_.

“Jinora.”

His smile turned into a grin. “Nice to meet you, Jinora. You know, every day I come in and I see you reading a new book. Do you really finish them?”

She nearly choked on her own spit. The idea of him noticing her the way she had been noticing him was almost too much to bear. She disguised her internal freak out with a quick, “Yes, I do. Right now I’m actually reading—“

“Kai!” The barista yelled out his name from the counter. She glanced around and turned sheepish when her eyes fell on them and  realized that she had interrupted something.

Kai stood up from his chair and instantly, Jinora realized that no, she wasn’t content to just sit in the café when he was there. She wanted _more_. She’d just opened her mouth to say something that probably would have left her embarrassed for the next week but he was quicker.

“Doyouthinkmaybeyou’dwanttohavelunchwithme?”

His words came out in a rush and his cheeks flushed red. Jinora grinned, relieved and overwhelmingly happy that he had just voiced what she would have bungled. “Yes, Kai, I would love to have lunch with you.”

Maybe he had felt the connection, too.


	2. Bad Boy and Tennis Captain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's another common trope with Kai playing the stereotypical bad boy.

This really wasn’t Kai’s kind of party.

Everyone was giggling over the tops of their beers, intoxicated by the mere sense of doing something wrong. A couple jocks were shoving around, still bellowing from their win at the football game several hours earlier. Girls draped themselves over walls and furniture and whispered together with sly looks around the room like they were telling the most interesting secrets imaginable.

In other words, the whole thing was a drag.

It was a bunch of over-grown kids playing make believe to catch a taste of what wild felt like. Kai felt exhausted just looking at them all. He slid a slightly crushed cigarette out of his jeans pocket and tried not to think about why he had come in the first place.

He knew she didn’t go to parties but he had clung to some kind of hope that maybe this one would be filled with enough of the preppy crowd to tempt her into coming. He’d spent the whole game glancing over at her and watching her reluctant participation in the excitement. Her half-hearted smile and straying brown eyes—it drove him mad. It was nearly enough to make him get up from his spot amongst the stoners to go and sit with the pretty tennis captain. Damn the social hierarchy to hell and back, would it really be so horrible for them to have one conversation?

He took his first drag, holding the smoke inside his mouth for a moment before letting it stream out of his nose. He checked his phone. If he wasted another hour here he would never forgive himself. He straightened the sleeves of his jacket and was turning to just when—

“I don’t think they let people smoke in here.”

He yelped at the voice he was used to hearing answering discussion questions in AP Lit. He had never imagined (ok, maybe he had and that was why he was here) that it would ever be directed at him.

He spun around to face disapproving eyes and a quirked mouth. She stood before him with her hip pressed out and arms crossed and he nearly inhaled the entire cigarette in surprise. He immediately snatched it from his mouth and ground it out with hasty fingers. Suddenly ashamed, he shoved the messy remains into his pocket to deal with later and tried to flash his signature smile that was feeling much more like a cringe.

“I’m sorry.” His voice was sincere because he truly did mean it and she gave him a small smile in return.

“It’s alright. You don’t seem like the kind of person to do it out of spite.”

He nodded and stuck out his hand, but not before trying to subtly brush off any cigarette remains on his jeans. “I’m Kai.”

She looked at the hand in surprise before taking it, eyes roving curiously over his face. “I’m Jinora.” Her hand was small in his and he really hoped his hands weren’t clammy or that he was shaking her hand for too long.

“You’re in my AP Lit and Gov with me. I sit in the back,” he said, watching her face carefully for disdain or contempt.

“I know.” They were both surprised at her quick reply and she blushed. “I mean, I see you around all the time. You have ceramics right before me. Your vase with a face was the example. It was brilliant.”

She seemed embarrassed by what she had said and began to stare at the ground. Kai felt a small measure of his confidence returning, if only a little. Her compliment left a warm glow in the center of his chest. “It’s ok. I’ve noticed you, too.”

That wasn’t creepy at all.

But much to Kai’s relief, she didn’t edge away and she even looked a little relieved. She smiled and tucked some hair behind her ear. “I wonder why we’ve never spoken before. I think we had some classes together last year, too?”

He leaned against the wall uncomfortably. “Yeah, well the kids in AP classes don’t usually like to associate with me. I don’t really fit the mold, if you haven’t noticed.”

If she heard the prideful bitterness in his voice she didn’t show it. She just looked at him with greater interest, tilting her head to the side. “I don’t see why not. You seem bright.”

Her strange word choice made him glance down to make sure that yes, he was still in the black leather jacket and frayed t-shirt. He still had rumpled hair and a distinct air of scruffiness. There was absolutely nothing about him that fit bright or its connotations. He was about to thank her when someone called from the other side of the room.

“Hey, Jinora! What are you doing here?!”

Jinora glanced over at the cluster of people on the couch beckoning her over. They all looked like her crowd—girls in sparkling tops with long hair and guys with broad shoulders in varsity jackets. She looked back at Kai apologetically. “Um, I think I had better get over there.”

She turned to leave, a short curtain of hair shrouding her face. Kai reacted with impulse rather than tact. His hand shot out and grabbed hers and she froze. Kai immediately let go, appalled at his own impunity. Words poured out of him in a nearly incoherent stream.

“I’m so, so sorry, I really didn’t just mean to do that, but I know you’re book club president and I was wondering if maybe you could give me some recommendations? Please?”

It was ridiculous and out of nowhere and he still couldn’t believe he had just snatched at her hand like a jerk but Kai couldn’t just let this encounter be the only one they had. He couldn’t spend another week glancing at her at football games and pining over the back of head in class. Rejection or not, he had to know if this would ever work at all. Whatever this was.

Her eyes widened and softened. Something flickered in them as she chewed her lip and Kai caught his breath. “Let’s meet tomorrow. I’d love to recommend you some books.”

“Great,” he breathed, overwhelmed by the flood of relief. She didn’t hate him and she didn’t think he was a waste of her time. “That would be great.”

She grinned back at him and her eyes danced mischievously. “You better be at the library when lunch starts. I don’t do second dates with no shows.”

Wait, what?

Before he could ask her to repeat what he was certain he had misheard, she started moving through the mix of people over her impatient friends. It was probably best because Kai felt a dreamy smile work its way onto his face and it probably would have been very embarrassing had she stayed around to see it.

He turned to leave in a daze and he felt a sudden rush of relief that he had asked her about the book club rather than accidentally offering to join the tennis team.


End file.
